You can employ men and hire hands to work for you, but you will have to win their hearts to have them work with you. William J.H. Boetcker

Monday, April 29, 2013

News Updates for the Week of April 29



1.      Sensity’s Smart Lights – As many of you know, one of my best friends and mentor was Jack Briody CEO/President of Advance, God rest his soul. After every Lightfair show he would ask us, “what is the one thing that impressed you most at Lightfair?” Think about it. A great way to get everyone thinking about this as we tried to absorb the plethora of information presented at the most innovative lighting show in America.  I even use this today when I see my grandkids…."what’s the one thing in class you learned today?" 

Anyway, this year for me it was Sensity Systems because it was more than just LED lighting…
Many companies and communities are upgrading their lighting to save energy. A Silicon Valley startup company, Sensity, www.sensity.com thinks they should also install arrays of sensor devices, for purposes such as improving safety, tracking retail traffic and even finding parking spots. Changing its name from Xeralux Inc. to Sensity Systems Inc. in order to reflect plans to offer light fixtures equipped with processors, sensors and wireless networking. The light system can provide video surveillance, weather data, traffic monitoring, parking information; carbon monoxide levels, or it can be programmed to recognize the sound of breaking glass, gun shots or even screams. And all the data will be uploaded to the cloud where it can be stored and endlessly crunched for trend-spotting. Its fixtures can be equipped to monitor ambient light, temperature, humidity, motion and other phenomena. Lampposts will have nodes in a smart network that not only illuminate spaces but visually monitor them, sense heat and communicate with other nodes and human monitors. In addition to such functions—which could raise privacy concerns, though perhaps less so after the Boston Marathon bombings—the new LED systems could sharply cut the cost of street lighting. The data could be sold to app developers who could create, say, an app to help find parking spots. Leading the company's shift is Hugh Martin, its chairman and chief executive and a veteran of companies such as Apple  Inc. AAPL  +1.52% and videogame maker 3DO Co. The idea, says Hugh Martin, is “wherever there’s a light, there’s data being generated.”   Times, they are a changin!  4/17 WSJ, 4/18 San Jose Mercury News and 4/25 NY Times 

2.      DOE Publishes LED Lighting Facts® Snapshot Report on Indoor Ambient Lighting - The U.S. Department of Energy's LED Lighting Facts® program has released a Snapshot Report on indoor ambient lighting, which utilizes the program's extensive database of more than 7,000 products to help industry stakeholders understand the current state and trajectory of the market for LED downlights, troffers, and T8/T5/T12 lamps. For a copy of the full report, please visit: www.ssl.energy.gov/ledlightingfacts.html

3.      NEMA Publishes NEMA SSL 7A-2013 Phase Cut Dimming for Solid State Lighting: Basic Compatibility - This standard provides compatibility requirements when a forward phase cut dimmer is combined with one or more dimmable LED Light Engines (LLEs). An LLE comprises one or more LED modules, LED control gear (integral or remote), and a connection to the mains circuit. This includes both screw-in integrated LED lamps, as well as fixtures which contain separate LED drivers. NEMA SSL 7A-2013 is meant to reduce the testing burden by utilizing synthetic loads and waveform generators to represent LLEs and dimmers during testing. http://www.nema.org Thanks to Ethan Biery, Design and Development Leader, Lutron Electronics for the heads-up…

4.      State of the Lighting Industry: 2013 by Precision-Paragon [P2] - This year, 68% of the survey takers said that they expect Linear Fluorescent lighting to be the dominant lighting technology they install in 2013. This number might come as a surprise where LED lighting seems to get all the news coverage. LED lighting has made advances in the past year, and that’s reflected by our survey takers, 26% of which expect it to be the dominant light source they install in 2013.  However, it’s also true that fluorescent lighting has made significant advances in the past year. Just recently, major lamp manufacturers began to release lamps with 80,000 hour rated lives. For a lamp that operates 12 hours a day for 365 days a year, that’s a rated lifespan of over 18-years. http://www.p-2.com/helpful-information/blog/437-state-of-the-lighting-industry-2013/

5.      Leviton Receives $1 Million Funding to Install Electric Vehicle Charging Stations throughout New York - Utilizing the company’s Evr-Green™ Dual Port Level 2 Charging Stations, Leviton will help enable electric vehicle charging at various workplaces throughout Upstate New York, New York City and Long Island. The total $3.6 million project, with funding from the NYSERDA and the New York Power Authority (NYPA), seeks to build a network of 3,000 public and workplace charging stations across the state over the next five years.  www.leviton.com/evrgreen

6.      Digital Lighting Management Is Smarter Than the Average Lighting Control System - An all-digital suite of plug-together lighting controls, DLM automatically configures to the most energy-efficient sequence of operation based on installed components. The result is that DLM meets and exceeds energy code requirements, saves more energy than conventional controls, and provides an unprecedented return on investment for both new construction and retrofit projects.  The new switches and occupancy sensors available as part of WattStopper’s Digital Lighting Management (DLM) control solution: Video: http://www.wattstopper.com/resources/multimedia-center.aspx http://www.wattstopper.com/products/digital-lighting-management.aspx#.UVsN1leU-cw

7.      Energy Measures Save Green Bay Schools $10 Million - The Green Bay School District officials said using energy-efficient light bulbs, turning off or dimming lights, maintaining heating and cooling systems in good condition and avoiding heavy energy use during peak times saved them about $10 million. Green Bay spends about 60 cents per square foot on energy in its high school buildings while many other districts in the state spend more than $1 per square foot. 4/22 AP

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